Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was murdered today.

For those unaware of post-war Yugoslavian politics, Djindjic was a reformer who wanted to bring some semblance of real democracy to the region. He was the primary force behind not only arresting Slobodan Milosevic, but handing him over to the War Crimes Tribunal in Hague. This set an astounding precedent for trying a former head of state for crimes against humanity, helping give credibility to the potential and principles of the nascent International Criminal Court.

When I read of Milosevic's arrest, my heart was full of hope that maybe, someday, it would be possible to have an international structure which would make war obsolete by not only providing alternative means of settling disputes between countries, but changing our global mentality such that the thought of killing people as a means to a political end would be considered gauche and reprehensible -- under any circumstances.

Yes, that is an oversimplification, but I'm not trying to make an argument here. I'm just trying to convey how I felt, that this one small move on the part of a courageous man opened a window into a future that may become more than merely a wistful dream.

And now that man is dead.

May those who follow be more visionary and faithful to his dream than Netanyahu was to Rabin's.

Do videnja, prijatel.